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Ontario Reports Weekly Surge in Measles Cases as Nearly 70% of Canadians Back Vaccine Mandates

Drastic drops in childhood measles immunization since 2019 have driven growing public support for mandates.

A child with a measles rash. The rising number of measles cases in Canada could be part of the reason that most of the people surveyed recently by Angus Reid agreed that childhood vaccines should be mandatory
The measles vaccine at the Centretown Community Health Centre. Health officials say waning immunization is leading to the largest measles outbreak in years.
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Overview

  • Ontario logged 93 new measles infections last week, raising its outbreak total to 1,888 since October, while Alberta’s cumulative cases stand at 628.
  • Ontario hospitals have treated 141 measles patients so far, including 101 unvaccinated children and teenagers and 10 individuals in intensive care.
  • An Angus Reid Institute survey of 1,700 adults found 69% of Canadians now favour requiring proof of immunization for school and daycare attendance, up from 55% a year ago.
  • Coverage among seven-year-old children fell from just over 86% in 2019 to 76% in 2023, and parental vaccine hesitancy has climbed from 16% to 22%.
  • Only Ontario and New Brunswick mandate vaccination for school entry, and over a quarter of residents in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario say they lack confidence in their provincial outbreak responses.